An apparatus of the type defined in the first paragraph and a toothed cutting device of the type defined in the second paragraph are known, for example, from the document DE 26 46 818 A1. In the known apparatus and in the known toothed cutting device the two toothed cutters each have a single supporting limb in their areas which are remote from the rows of cutter teeth in directions transverse to the tooth row direction, which limbs have exactly the same dimension in the tooth row direction, which dimension corresponds to the overall length of each of the two cutters. In the known apparatus and in the known toothed cutting device the intermediate element of a low-friction material is connected to the non-drivable toothed cutter, which is stationary in operation. The intermediate element consists of a synthetic material. Owing to the fact that in the known apparatus and in the known toothed cutting device the intermediate element carried by one toothed cutter, i.e. the stationary toothed cutter, and the supporting limb of the other toothed cutter, i.e. the drivable toothed cutter, have the same dimensions in the tooth row direction, the successively recurring situation arises that in operation each of the two end portions of the supporting limb, which are spaced apart in the tooth row direction, come into contact with the intermediate element carried by the stationary toothed cutter, and is subsequently moved over the intermediate element up to and beyond the end of this element. This process leads to abrasion of the intermediate element by the end portions of the supporting limb of the drivable toothed cutter, as a result of which the toothed cutting device becomes soiled in the area of the two supporting limbs and the intermediate element, which abraded material may get between the intermediate element carried by the stationary toothed cutter and the supporting limb of the drivable toothed cutter, which gives rise to an undesirable increase of the friction between the intermediate element and the supporting limb of the drivable toothed cutter. Moreover, as a result of the abrasion of the intermediate element at its two ends the surface pressure between the intermediate element and the supporting limb of the drivable toothed cutter in the central area of these two parts of the toothed cutting device increases comparatively strongly, which also gives rise to an undesirable increase of the friction between these two parts.